Weekend trip to Ladysmith (First weekend Trip)

[robin800gs]

September presented us with a long weekend, which we took the opportunity t :occasion14:o take a ride down to Ladysmith to visit MOM.

The kids were away for the weekend, thus the bike got voted in for preferred method of transport.

Wednesday evening - 19/9/2012

Service in a friends Garage, which involved a new oil filter and oil, and fitting new BMC air filter. Over copious amounts of beer, the oil was all over the garage floor and the BMC filter was fitted with no mishaps.
 

Had to go shopping on Thursday morning for bags to carry our luggage in for the weekend... Never knowing what we we're  getting ourselves into (do you know how much crap a woman can pack?!)

We departed Boksburg at approx. 15:00 on thursday afternoon (20/09/2012). The ride thru to Heidelberg and joining onto the N3
was brilliant until we we're about halfway between Willies and Warden where the "mother of all storms" hit us. Had to stop for an impromptu picnic under a bridge with some truckers as company for half an hour.

Leaving there the ride was hassle free... until we hit "Van Reenen's" the nightmare of all nightmare on a dark and windy night with truck drivers racing towards Durban in a bid to get there first.

We finally arrived at our destination at 19:00 hours where the sight of a cold beer was enough to warm any heart.

[robin800gs]

Friday morning we took a trip into Ladysmith for some much needed supplies 

Knowing how cranky the g/f gets if she's hungry I suggested the spur for lunch, the venue was changed to a little coffeeshop/tea garden in the 'rich' area of Ladysmith.

The "Mary Catherine" was an experience that any person from Gauteng should not have to live thru.  Very nice place, very nice people, but because everyone knows everyone you can wait up to an hour for a Tramazzini...

Back at the farm we relaxed with a couple of cold ones and took in the amazing peace and quiet that surrounded us (except for the cows which make the most god awfull racket)...

[robin800gs]

Saturday Morning @ 06:00.

Our friend Christo is coming to join us, the plan was that he leaves Boksburg @ 06:00 and phone us when he reaches Harrismith.  At 06:00 we get the phone call that he is now in Villiers.  It had been raining the whole way from Heidelberg and Christo was "drenched to his sole" lmao.  We managed to convince him to carry on thru the rain and cold and join us for an unforgetable weekend.  He arrived at the farm @ 09:00 where we fed him Whiskey coffee and put his clothes infront of a heater.

We then went back to Ladysmith to show him the amazing little town (huge amounts of sarcasm in one sentence).

After stocking up on more supplies we hit the road in the direction of 'Winterton', hoping to find a decent place for lunch... and we did. If anybody ever finds themselves in that area look out for the "black scabbard" - a really nice place with really nice food, good service, good music and a liquor license.

We then decided to head back to the farm (Spitskop) where we were staying for the weekend.  My mom then told us about all the great dirt roads in the area which we decided to go and try out.  We headed out onto the original "Van Reenen's" pass which was build in 1857 and has the most amazing scenery anybody could ever hope to see. 

On our trip we of course had the urge to pollute our lungs and found ourselves without any means of fire.  A friendly local, whose home was invaded by two noisy bikes and three strangers agreed to sell us a box of matches for R 2.00.



The highlight of the trip was ofcourse going thru the tunnel (where we had to stop and admire every nook and cranny of this old tunnel).




we managed to do 88km on the dirtroads that afternoon and had an absolute ball.

[Lear300]

Nice....more pics please

[robin800gs]

will post more soon and continue the RR

[Crazy Biker Chick]

Bingelela is ook 'n baie lekker plek om te eet.  Tussen Winterton en Drakensville

[robin800gs]

sal dit onthou vir volgende keer, dankie

[Crazy Biker Chick]

Dit was in die winter toe dit gesneeu het.

[Khakibos]

Lekker RR nog nog!! 

[Crazy Biker Chick]

Jou 2 de foto is van die trein tonnel

[robin800gs]

Saturday evening we had a braai with some friends and family where we were entertained by my uncle who plays the guitar like an old pro. Felt like we were back @ veld school sitting around a fire making a hell of a racket 

Sunday morning we decided to head out early (again woken up by the noisy cows and Christo phoning to see if we're awake - 50m is WAY too far to walk, hahaha).

After long consultations with our host, Alan Tedder, we decided to meet up at a stunning place called "Bingelela".  Great food, great service and a scenery that will leave you breathless.

We started off by going into Ladysmith to fuel up and then headed out on the Colenso Road.

 At Bergville we turned right and headed towards the Olifantshoek Pass. Rode around for an hour in the surrounding area until 13:00 when the rest of the 'gang' met us at Bingelela.  After lunch we went back in the direction of Bergville and turned onto a dirt road heading towards "Geluksburg".

The road leading into Geluksburg... and out ofcourse 

We think this might be the last vehicle that attempted to travel on this road....

Geluksburg is such a small little place (no church, no shops, no working garage), the view is absolutely amazing though...


Leaving Geluksburg we traveled towards Swinburne on the Middledale Pass road

Middledale pass was absolutely amazing, the road though was absolutely horrific, I think the only vehicles that still travel that road regularly are excavators and tractors.

[robin800gs]

On monday morning we woke up to the horrifying thought of having to go back home today.... This had been such a nice break and we were only really getting into it.

We decided to head out early and try and miss all the "Vaalies" who were leaving Durban (hopefully not with the same idea in mind).

Instead of just getting on the N3 we decided to head out on "De Beers Pass".  Wow is all I can say.  It was an absolutely amazing experience, we had traveled it by car before, but the experience on a bike is something you cant even begin to compare.

The g/f was clinging on for dear life taking photos and video's while Christo and myself we're riding, so please excuse some of the photos, she's just glad she never fell off...



The view from "De Beers Pass"


The sign leading up to "De Beers Pass"


Our photographer


Taking a break on top of "De Beers" before the trek home.


Of course no trip in South Africa would be complete without encountering one of these...

[Crazy Biker Chick]

Its so nice to see our little hometown threw the eyes of somebody else.

[robin800gs]

Some odds and ends..


Our lovely hostess, Lydia Tedder



Packed up and ready to go



Christo is SO' excited about going home...



Pat (Right) and Earl (Left) gave us some gr8 entertainment in the evenings



We tried to take a photo of all three of us, the camera was balanced on a helmet, which was balanced on another helmet, which was balanced on a rock and the timer then set.  Everytime the g/f got halfway the timer would go off or the camera would fall off, was absolutely hilarious...



The "set up"



The babies parked in front of the old car tunnel on Van Reenen's



Parked on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, we have such a beautiful country

[Lear300]

very nice RR.

Hopefully the next one I will be able to join you guys

[robin800gs]

that would be nice Lear300